Good emperical news

It's fantastic to see that the emperical data regarding my cycling performance has not changed in spite of the fact that I've been off the bike taking care of other life issues(like watching the Olympics and American Idol). I haven't lost a significant amount of wattage. That said, I retested myself on my CP20 workout last night. I didn't expect to complete it but I was pleasantly surprised. If you remember from a previous post, CP20 is the average watts that a cyclist can generate over a twenty minute period. My CP20 is 221 watts. I was able to maintain that wattage for 20minutes and 36 seconds before I reached failure. It's a good sign that my capacity to create work hasn't changed significantly.

HOWEVER!,

My bike weighs the same as last summer. The weight of two water bottles hasn't changed. But, I'm about 15lbs heavier. I'm amazed by the loss of competitiveness by an addition of just a few kgs.

This should be a point of encouragement for many cyclists that find themselves within the "bell curve". There is one easy way out. Drop the luggage and you will ride faster.

Here's the calcuation. Each lb of fat is 3500 calories. Miss a meal and ride longer to help burn more of your fat stores. By default, you will ride faster. The gain in average speed is even greater when the road turns up.

How do you determine your training program? Do you just ride or do you have a plan. Set your goals and design your program to achieve your goals.

If you need help, let me know.